ARTHOUSE FILM NEWS - Cosmic Disco Detective Rene at Facets, Chicago 11/29/23

Blame it on watching Mystery Train & Stranger Than Paradise too many times, but I do like kind of surreal & funny & minimalist features about odd characters, so, the Azazel Jacobs film The GoodTimes Kid might be a movie that I would enjoy. Looking forward to checking it out whenever I stumble across it (another good thing about these minimalist movies, there's no rush, waiting to watch the movie is almost as exciting as watching the movie; maybe certain movies release certain brain waves - alpha waves? omega waves? and that's why i like watching them even though there isn't much happening on the screen, who knows). Here's a recent small mention of The GoodTimes Kid at the Boston Globe : " "The GoodTimesKid" Written and directed by co-star Azazel Jacobs (son of legendary avant-garde filmmaker Ken Jacobs), this low-fi comedy bounces off the festival circuit and lands with a lovely little splat. It's one day in the life of three hapless Los

Just watched Amir Motlagh's new short film Knock.Knock. I liked it, need to watch it again & think about it, will have a review here later this week. The film stars a comedian (Chris Manz, MySpace ) but is not a comedy, it is a light drama about a day, and more specifically a couple of encounters, in the life of a comedian with an internet show. That's all I'll say for now, read the review later this week for more on Knock.Knock. Also, it's been a while since I interviewed Amir ( read Feb '05 interview here ), will try to talk to him about Knock.Knock & his feature-in-post-production Whale & his other feature-in-the-works Micro later this week. Back to working on the DNO DVD for me. Talk to you later. - Sujewa

get all the info. here.

Any blog entry that mentions real indie film, 80's punk rock, & yours truly is worth linking to & reading :), so here is a post at the Camera Stilo blog re: the new DIY/real indie/whatever film movement that we are building with each no budget digital feature & barnyard screening & home made DVD sale & private & public web conversations: To Sum It All Up - Independent Music of the 1980s and Independent Film Today. - Sujewa

Ah, the topic that never dies. Time magazine film critic Richard Schickel joins the conversation at LA Times. Thanks Chuck Tryon for the link. -Sujewa

Apparently a doc called Divine Trash . I just read a chapter called Guilty Pleasures in the Waters book Crackpot where he talks about his "secret" appreciation of art movies, and I was trying to find that chapter on line to link to, but instead I stumbled upon the Divine Trash page. Here is the link to an Austin Chronicle review of the film. Need to see DT. After all, Waters is from Baltimore, a city that's just about 40 minutes from where I type this. And I liked most of Cry Baby, and I think most of that movie about indie/underground filmmaking - Cecil B. DeMented, and all of Hairspray, plus, no doubt, bits and pieces from several of his other movies (and why have I only seen parts of most of these movies so far? perhaps it is time for a John Waters movie night at the Sujewa house). - Sujewa

Go Lance , getting some of the most interesting artists around on tape. Check out conversation with DJ Spooky, the maker of Rebirth of a Nation & many other very interesting multi-media works, here . For more on DJ Spooky (aka Paul Miller) check out his website here . -Sujewa

Saw the first episode (of 6) of Jennifer Fox's documentary Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman last night. These are some initial positive thoughts regarding the movie, will write & publish a regular review of the work after I've seen all 6 episodes, which I hope to do before the July 4th premiere of the film in NYC . Flying is unlike any movie I've seen before, and I mean that in a good way (perhaps Tarnation was kind of like this, but I have not seen it): filmmaker films her own life and events in the lives of a few friends as they unfold, and discusses some very personal issues: sex, marriage, having or not having kids, divorce and separation and issues related to the aftermath of those events, a serious illness, also on going romantic & sexual relationships. Not only does it take a tremendous amount of bravery and confidence to attempt to make a film like the one Fox has made, it also takes, I imagine, extraordinary organizational & directorial skills in ord

I was busy with some less important things today (although, did come up with a great idea for a movie - on the productive side), didn't get to go to the DC opening of Hal Hartley's Fay Grim, do plan on going this coming week. Got my Hartley fix from this Filmmaker magazine interview today, check it out, good stuff . - Sujewa

i am reading a book called Popism: The Warhol 60's, written by Andy Warhol & Pat Hackett (link: a 1990 reprint at Amazon ). ran across an interesting line in the book, Warhol says: " Although I didn't buy a movie camera till some time in '63, it had certainly occurred to me to be a do-it-yourself filmmaker long before then,..." line is on page 29. the fact that he used the term do-it-yourself is interesting to me. the book has a copyright of 1980 so maybe that's not so weird after all. i didn't think artists in America used the term "do-it-yourself" to describe their work until after the punk days, late 70's i guess - so if the book was written around the late 70's, then it all makes sense. but maybe the term was in use in the 60's, at least by some people Warhol knew. who knows. aside from all that, the book is a good read, demystifies Warhol. it could all be an act, but why and how he did things is explained in the book,

Just received the entire six hours of Jennifer Fox's doc Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman in the mail. Looking forward to checking it out, maybe I can catch at least a couple of episodes this weekend. Browsing through Flying material on the web, this quote by Fox, from a Reeler interview , caught my eye: "...this film is like candy. It's not like taking medicine; it's like eating chocolate. You watch one hour, then you want to watch two and three and four. It's a little bit like a soap opera; you meet characters who reappear who are in different crises in their life and you want to know what's going to happen to them. So you need to think of it more like Sex and the City..." Sounds excellent. Even if Flying is not quite like Sex and the City, I am excited about the fact that it is 6 hours of people talking about interesting aspects of their lives. Always wanted to make a movie like that. Plus, the movie takes place all over the world, another thin

While DIY film as a career path or shall we say the DIY film industry is in its infancy in the US of A right now (indie film/filmmakers as conceived in 80's & 90's rely on indiewood distribution for the most part to make money & sustain themselves, DIY filmmakers self-distribute; and there is only a handful of such filmmakers at the moment - but more are joining the ranks every day), the DIY rock industry, at least what I know of it, is over 20 years old - at least. One branch of these musicians are the DC punk rockers who built Dischord Records ; people such as Ian MacKaye. This LA Weekly article from 2005 talks about how MacKaye & Amy Farina - The Evens -work, and talks about their music. Since DIY rock is older & well established, I check out articles on that movement/industry/scene/whatever-you-want-to-call-it to get ideas that might work for my own DIY film practices. So far ideas borrowed from DIY rock (ultra low budget self-reliant production, self-distri

The Chicago Underground Film Festival sayz: "Fees are not required of entrants who have screened at the festival in the past" Very good, a useful & innovative & filmmaker friendly evolution (unless of course this is the norm in the film fest industry, this sounds like a new thing to me). Anyway, me likes. Submission deadlines: 5/15 THAT'S TODAY! (regular deadline), 6/1 (late deadline). Fest happens August 22-26, 2007 in Chicago, IL. Here's their website . - Sujewa

As the Dead Kennedy's once criticized California by alluding to Nazi Germany, so does renowned theater director Peter Sellars in this long and very interesting speech re: art, the role of the artist in a democracy, culture and its relationship to the well being of the nation and other important ideas. The speech - The State of the Cinema address, was given at the San Francisco International Film Festival on 4/29/07. Here is a portion where Sellars talks about Nazi Germany, the last days of the Roman empire and its treatment of an honest man - a philosopher. Also about the value of digital age storytelling (transcript at SF360 ): "So, state of the state. All of those groups who say, "Why were the German people silent?" And now I have to ask, "Why are the American people silent?" The German people were told that this other set of people were just not human beings, so it didn't matter what happened to them: "Pay no attention as these people just sudd

Check out all the freshest Amir Motlagh film news at Amir's blog: - New "Still Lover" distro deal - Knock. Knock completed & ready for festivals & screenings & distro - Sujewa